Coupling for melodeons



E. B. CARPENTER & E. N. MERRIAM.

MELODEON.

No. 18,676. Patented Nov. 24, 1857.

/W/ /////Z Y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

E. B. CARPENTER, OF BRATTLEBORO, AND E.

COUPLING FOR Specification of Letters Patent No.

i To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, E. B. CARPENTER, of Brattleboro, in the county of"Windham and State of Vermont, and E. N. MERRIAM, of East Poultney, inthe county of Rutland and State of Vermont, have invented certain newand useful Improvements Applicable to Melodeons and Organs and otherWind Musical Instruments of Similar Character; and we do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which Figure l is a plan of part of the keyboard andplaying mechanism of a melodeon illustrating our invention. Fig. 2 is atransverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinalvertical section of the same, taken in the line 00, :0, in Fig. 1, andseen looking from the back.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention relates to certain mechanism which is employed to combinethe valves with the keys in such a manner that any given tone and itsoctave, with the fifth or tenth or both of these combined, or any otherintervals that may be desired, on the same key-board, may be played atone and the same time by pressing a single key.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, wewill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is the reed board of the instrument.

B, is one of the valves.

O, is the key-frame.

V WV V are the keys, representing one and a quarter octaves, (from F toA,) except that such keys only are shown as are necessary to show theinvention, and these have their respective denominations marked uponthem in Fig. 1.

S, S, are the trackers or push-down pins, connecting the keys with thevalves in the usual manner.

O, O, are a series of coupling levers arranged below and diagonally tothe keys, and having their rear ends connected with what we term thefulcrum-board M, and having each a pin a, in its front end, passingthrough a hole in one of the trackers S, S. The fulcrum-board extendsthe whole or any portion of the length of the instrument and is hingedat its front edge b, to the reed N. MERRIAM, OF EAST POULTNEY, VERMONT.

MELODEONS, &c.

18,676, dated November 24, 1857.

board or other stationary part of the instrument.

J, is a sliding bar working in a guide on the top of the reed boardbelow the fulcrum board and having one or more wedges or inclinedprojections j, on its upper side for the purpose of raising up thefulcrum board by sliding each against the inclined face of a cavity 713,in the fulcrum board.

L, L, are blocks secured rigidly to the undersides of the keys for thepurpose of playing the octave of the note played by each key through itstracker, said blocks act-ing upon the heads of screws Z, which are adjusted at proper elevations in the tops of the coupling levers O, O.

N, N, are jacks hinged to the bottoms of the keys, one in front of andone behind each block L, for the purpose of playing a fifth and a tenthor other desirable interval, said jacks acting upon the heads of screws17., n, which are adjusted at proper elevations in the levers O, O. Therelative distances of the three screws Z, n, n, in each coupling lever,and of the tracker with which said lever is connected, from the fulcrumof the lever, must be the same as the relative distances of the block L,and jacks N, N, and tracker of each key from the fulcrum of the key, inorder thatthe trackers may receive the same amount of motion whetheroper ated by the levers or by the keys, and it is -preferable that thelength of the coupling levers should be not less than twice the lengthof an octave of keys.

R is a bar running the whole length of the instrument or as great aportion of the length as is necessary, in front of the front jacks N,said bar being cranked near its ends and having journals formed to turnin suitable hearings in the key-frame or case, and having a stop-likeknob R, at one end. The front jacks N, which are arranged for playingthe fifths of the notes played directly by their respective keys, areconnected with the bar R by springs r, 1", which are forked, slotted, orhooked at their ends, so as to connect the jacks with the bar, but yetleave room for the bar and jacks to move without straining the springs.

P is a bar like R arranged beneath the rear jacks l said bar having astop-like knob P, at one end. The rear jacks N,

tive keys, are connected with the bar P by- When the slide J, is pushedin, the fulcrumboard falls down so low that the blocks L, and jacks N,N, will not reach the pins Z, n, n, and each key operates only means ofits own trackers S, to open the valve below it. But if the slide J, isdrawn out, the fulcrum-board is raised up high enough for the blocks L,and jacks N, N, to act upon the pins Z, n, n. F or the sake of example,we will describe the action of the key W, first supposing the knob R, tobe pushed back and the knob P, to be drawn forward, (as shown in blackoutline in Fig. 2,) which moves the jacks N, N, out of operation. Thefulcrumboard being now raised up, the key W acting through its block L,on the pin Z, below it, depresses the lever in which is the said pin,and at the same time opens the valve under the key which it will be seenby reference to the mark F upon said key, in Fig. 1, is its octave. Ifthe stop R be then drawn forward to bring the front set of jacks N, overthe front pins 12, the key W will open the valve be low or C in thescale, which is a fifth above W and by pushing back the stop P, to throwthe rear jacks N, over their respective pins Z, the same key will alsoopen the valve below or A in the scale, which is a tenth above W or amajor third above WV and thus we obtain the common chord by pressing asingle key. By pushing back the stop R, the fifth is disconnected andthe note octave and tenth or major third are played. By pushing in theslide J, again, the keys are made to play only the valves immediatelybelow them. If the player, after having had either set of jacks coupled,moves either knob R, or P, to uncouple them while he holds a keydepressed, the bar R, or P, moves the spring connec tion 1", or p, ofthe ack of that key while the jack is retained on its respective pin n,by the friction between them, but as soon as the finger is raised fromthe key and the key allowed to rise, the spring draws the jack forwardor back out of the way of the pin. Or if after having had either set ofjacks uncoupled, the player moves the knob R, or P, to couple them whilehe holds a key depressed, the bar R, or P, acting through the springconnection 7", or p, of the jack of that key, draws'said jack againstthe side of the head of its respective pin, when the jack is arrestedand the spring is bent by the further movement of the bar; but as soonas the pressure of the finger is The levers O, O, 0, may, by proper arrangement of the jacks N, N, and pins n, n, be employed to connect anyother notes than the fifths and tenths as described, as for eX- amplethe fourth and sixth.

The advantage of this invention over other octave couplers andattachments of 'similar character are: 1st, extreme simplicity ofconstruction and compactness; 2nd, in the provision afforded forcoupling or uncoupling with equal facility when any of the keys arepressed down, or while the keys are in motion or at rest.

The fulcrum-board may be divided transversely at any desirable point inthe scale and employing a slide at each end, this attachment can be usedfor either portion of the key-board to strengthen the bass or treble atpleasure. Y

hat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters-Patent,is:

1. The employment of a single series of diagonal levers O, 0, arrangedrelatively to and combined with the keys by blocks L, and acks N, N,substantially as described, whereby a single lever serves not only tocouple a key with another to which it stands in the relation of octave,but with other keys to which it stands in different relations, asfifths,,tenths, &c.

2. Supporting the diagonal levers upon a fulcrum-board that is arrangedbetween the keys and valves and applied so as to be capable of risingtoward and falling from the keys with the whole series of levers,substantially as set forth.

3. Combining the jacks N, N, with the uncoupling bars R P by means ofthe elastic connections 1", 39, operating substantially in the mannerand for the purpose set forth.

E. B. CARPENTER. E. N. MERRIAM.

Witnesses to the signature of E. B. Carpenter:

AsA KEYEs, GEO. H. BENNETT.

Witnesses to the signature of E. N. Merriam:

L. D. Ross, A. B. RIPLEY.

